SITE REVIEW: Classroom-Music

Hello,
Please look at http://www.classroom-music.info. Just wonderin if you could give me any tips on how to improve it. Also if you could give me a rating like one out of ten.
Thanks

Taylor Hewitt

Banned

Posts: 237

Loc: Canada

3+ Months Ago

That is like the tackiest website I have ever seen, no offence. The background is uber corny and it just doesn't feel right. The colours are just hard on the eyes and it makes me want to leave right away. I'm not good with rating so I'm sorry I can't rate it. There's some feedback though.

spintwo

Beginner

Posts: 56

3+ Months Ago

The background makes my eyes bleed. You've almost made it impossible to make any curves look like curves because of the background you chose. There are black pieces sticking out of the curves.

Why are there different colors for links almost right next to each other?

Also, that big RED box on the bottom looks really out of place. Other than that, it's ok.

3/10

Dubya

Proficient

Posts: 468

3+ Months Ago

I think it is a well structured site. The navigation is easy, and there seems to be plenty of content. The curved corner images need to be transparent gifs, that will make it look better. And, I understand what you were wanting to do with the background, but you must tone the colors down, and I would think about having the background fixed so that it does not scroll with the rest of the page. It may add to the effect...once you tone the colors down. Here's the CSS you'll need if you decide to take my advice.

Very bright!! I'd tone dumb the language down maybe too, not everyone is clued up on musical jargon and fancy words for teaching principles (pedagogical! Only see this sort of word in academic journals!). Background is far too bright. Tone it down to a much less striking blue (nearer white). Also, if your gonna have corner images, use gifs, and make those black bits the transparent color, this way you'll get nice corners.

Best of luck (4/10)

darkermoon

Expert

Posts: 542

Loc: Riverdale, MD

3+ Months Ago

ausmeister wrote:

Very bright!! I'd tone dumb the language down maybe too, not everyone is clued up on musical jargon and fancy words for teaching principles (pedagogical! Only see this sort of word in academic journals!). Background is far too bright. Tone it down to a much less striking blue (nearer white). Also, if your gonna have corner images, use gifs, and make those black bits the transparent color, this way you'll get nice corners.

Best of luck (4/10)

//the language shouldn't need to be toned down too much since the
//audience of the site should know about at least most of it.
(the more I look at this site the more I think it's aimed at teachers who don't have much idea what they're doing yet, so I will agree there, needs to be toned down.)

Transparent gifs on the corners will help and be sure to keep all links the same colors, it's kind of the way everyone does. The background would look good if it had a color but the notes were very much toned down (extremely easy to do) that would make it look better. Maybe if the text on the front page was a touch shorter, that might help and have that on another page. The text that is blue or other colors should probably just be bold if you want to make them stand out, not the different colors.

sycofi5h

Expert

Posts: 506

Loc: Australia

3+ Months Ago

well lets see here, the whole website doesnt match, the colors to blend the background well that speaks for itself, it is like too bright and just stands out, (that is not what a background should be like, should blend).
There is a change of fonts and colors int he text Arial to Times New Roman and font colors that change and the links change and yeah well not my taste.
the navigation works well it is the best part of the site.
the title yeah well it is ok and it will do.

Might want to fix things up

-sycofi5h

daremedy

Professor

Posts: 911

3+ Months Ago

You have a unique design and the resemblance to an actual piano wasnt lost on me, so I'll definitely commend you on stepping out of the box. But you will have to make those black corners on some of the curved images transparent, as suggested. I wont nag you to death about that background, but here's a couple of suggestions. One was already noted, make the background fixed to avoid the constant background shift and possibly making your viewer dizzy. The other, if you have any sort of photo editing software and/or expertise, take the background image and make it black and white, just to dim down the dramatic effect it gives off. Or you can even keep the blue color, but darken the color so that its not so much in your face.

Apart from the layout, I'd like to see a clearer definition of what your site is about on your index page. I'm still questioning whether its aimed at teachers or students, or both. So maybe put in a line or paragraph that says something like "welcome to the knauss music curriculum where we.....", and fill in the rest. The content itself is great. Work on your reverse linking. For example, if I go to "The Author" page and click on the Education link, there's no link going back to the previous page, so work on the navigation a bit more. I have some questions as to your fonts, they seems to change from page to page, but its something that'll be better addressed after you decide on your background. Last couple of things, your title tags are not consistent. If I go to the curriculum page, the title is books. Mission page has the index title. Just make sure you label them consistently so the viewer knows where he is, helps in navigation. Finally, add your meta description/keywords tags and put some alt tags for your images. Good job.

Dubya

Proficient

Posts: 468

3+ Months Ago

I took the liberty to modify your background image to something a bit more appropriate. You can use it and modify it further to your needs, or you can ignore it you'd like.

Lord Kai

Student

Posts: 82

Loc: Chicago, IL, USA

3+ Months Ago

Ok well I think the site is well put together. Minus the background it's ok. If you make the background smoother it will really make the site look much better. In fact because your doing something slightly educational, I'm offer to do a background for you. If your interested reply back letting me know.

As for other things.... Get rid of the italics for the link to endorments and cost comparison... They already have a board around them and colored background, the italics isn't nessecary.

darkermoon

Expert

Posts: 542

Loc: Riverdale, MD

3+ Months Ago

Lord Kai wrote:

Ok well I think the site is well put together. Minus the background it's ok. If you make the background smoother it will really make the site look much better. In fact because your doing something slightly educational, I'm offer to do a background for you. If your interested reply back letting me know.

As for other things.... Get rid of the italics for the link to endorments and cost comparison... They already have a board around them and colored background, the italics isn't nessecary.

how can you say it's well put together? it's made in frontpage and the table edges don't match the background amongst 1000 other problems.

Lord Kai

Student

Posts: 82

Loc: Chicago, IL, USA

3+ Months Ago

The site is put together for educational purpose I mean damn it's not like people are going to be going there for fun.

darkermoon

Expert

Posts: 542

Loc: Riverdale, MD

3+ Months Ago

we're doing reviews on how well the site is put together, not who's looking at it. If you look at college's sites, those are put together for educational purposes, but they don't look bad. microsoft.com isn't there for fun but it isn't put together poorly. same with google, macromedia and a lot of the sites out there.

Dubya

Proficient

Posts: 468

3+ Months Ago

to compare a small business website to microsoft is just not fair. The design of his webpage is not bad, he just needs to make a few minor adjustments. And yes, you do have to evaluate a website's design based on the site's purpose.

darkermoon

Expert

Posts: 542

Loc: Riverdale, MD

3+ Months Ago

okay, I can't participate in this any more. no, a small web site does not have to be as good as the microsoft website, I wasn't comparing them, I was making a point about how it's not just fun sites that have to be good. You evaluate a website on purpose but, purpose should not change the quality of a site, just the design and looks and possibly complexity.

I won't participate in this topic any more because what's being said is against my entire theory of website design and I will not argue this topic further.

Dubya

Proficient

Posts: 468

3+ Months Ago

darkermoon wrote:

I won't participate in this topic any more because what's being said is against my entire theory of website design and I will not argue this topic further.

It's all good darkermoon. The reason I review sites is to help my fellow web programmer by giving suggestions to improve his site, not telling him how his site is useless and pathetic. I will not hesitate to say the truth if the site is truly horid, such as having no structure or navagation (like one column, centered text). But I would still try to build the fellow (or gal) up, not tear them down. We all still have a lot to learn, some of us more than others. This is what I think the purpose of these forums is. To allow a community of people to share their computer knowledge with one another in order to help everyone's knowledge grow even more. I know that this has been the case for me.

Lord Kai

Student

Posts: 82

Loc: Chicago, IL, USA

3+ Months Ago

In my opinion and my experience quality is determined by purpose... Trust me I've done sites just for the hell of it and they've come out like oh that's nice and then i've done sites for pay and they've come out "Wow that's alot better than I expected." His site is perfect for what it's purpose is for.